


When Tears Roll Down

by AutisticWriter



Series: Cuddles [18]
Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Ableism, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Human, Amethyst (Steven Universe) Has BPD, Amputee Peridot (Steven Universe), Arguing, Autism, Autism Spectrum, Autistic Bill Dewey, Autistic Peridot (Steven Universe), Borderline Personality Disorder, Broken Bones, Cracked Gems, Crying, Cuddling & Snuggling, Depression, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Episode: s03e09 Hit the Diamond, Established Relationship, Ficlet Collection, Friendship, Gender Dysphoria, Gender-Neutral Pronouns, Healing, Hugs, Hurt/Comfort, Influenza, Injury, Kissing, Lapis Lazuli Has PTSD - Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Love Confessions, Making Up, Meltdown, Mental Health Issues, Multi, Nightmares, Nonbinary Character, Nonbinary Sour Cream (Steven Universe), Older Characters, POV First Person, Past Abuse, Polyamory, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Pre-Canon, Reunions, Sharing a Bed, Sickfic, Sleepy Cuddles, Slurs, Stimming, Swearing, Trans Lars (Steven Universe), Trans Male Character, canon lgbtq characters
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-26
Updated: 2018-03-08
Packaged: 2019-03-24 10:09:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 12,106
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13808997
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AutisticWriter/pseuds/AutisticWriter
Summary: A collection of hurt/comfort ficlets.Cuddle Number 18: While Someone’s Crying[A list of chapter summaries can be found in the notes inside]





	1. Ruby/Sapphire

**Author's Note:**

> *Chapter 1: Ruby/Sapphire - Ruby and Sapphire have a tearful reunion.  
> *Chapter 2: Amethyst/Peridot - Amethyst helps Peridot deal with a meltdown.  
> *Chapter 3: Pearl/Rose Quartz - Rose heals Pearl when her gem gets cracked.  
> *Chapter 4: Doc/Leggy - Doc sticks up for Leggy when the other Rubies pick on her.  
> *Chapter 5: Pearl/Bill Dewey - Bill is sick and Pearl tries to look after him.  
> *Chapter 6: Buck/Sour Cream/Jenny - Buck and Jenny try to help a dysphoric Sour Cream.  
> *Chapter 7: Amethyst/Garnet/Pearl - Pearl and Garnet try to help Amethyst when she struggles with her mental health.  
> *Chapter 8: Steven/Connie - Connie gets injured (twice) and Steven heals her.  
> *Chapter 9: Lars/Ronaldo/Sadie - Ronaldo comforts Sadie after Lars upsets her.  
> *Chapter 10: Steven/Peridot - Steven consoles a tearful Peridot after she breaks her prosthetic.  
> *Chapter 11: Lapis & Peridot - Peridot discovers that Lapis has PTSD and tries to help.  
> *Chapter 12: Mr Smiley/Mr Frowney - Harold reunites with his former partner.  
> *Chapter 13: Bill Dewey/Greg Universe - Greg and Bill talk about their former partners, and get upset.  
> *Chapter 14: Pearl/Mystery Girl - Pearl has something to tell her new girlfriend.  
> *Chapter 15: Steven & Crystal Gems - The Gems comfort Steven when he has a nightmare.
> 
> The title comes from 'Laid so Low (Tears Roll Down)' by Tears for Fears.

Ruby and Sapphire have been fused for so long that it’s fair to say that they struggle to cope when apart. Well, Ruby knows she struggles; Sapphire seems to cope, but she has always been good at hiding her feelings. So whenever they unfuse, they can’t stay that way very long without getting confused or stressed or anxious.

One time, Garnet unfuses to help a mission to retrieve a corrupted gem. The plan being that they need as many gems as possible to capture this particularly dangerous gem (they get Peridot and Lapis to help, and Steven even brings along Connie), so Ruby and Sapphire can be useful apart. And despite enjoying the rare time to be herself (and getting swamped in hugs by her friends), Ruby is rather anxious about all of this.

Throughout the whole mission, split up from Sapphire, all Ruby can think about is Sapphire. What if she gets poofed? What if her gem gets cracked? What if she never gets to see her again? Her fellow Crystal Gems try to reassure her, but Ruby finds it difficult to believe them. After all, she isn’t used to this. She doesn’t know what being alone is supposed to feel like any more.

So by the time the mission is a success and the two groups meet up again, Ruby is nearly in tears from worrying about Sapphire. And when she sees Sapphire, stood next to Lapis and smiling, she breaks down.

“Sapphire!” she cries, rushing towards her with tears in her eyes.

She hugs Sapphire tightly, pressing her face against her neck.

“Ruby,” Sapphire says, hugging her back. “I assume you took the path of worrying about me?”

Ruby nods, sobbing into Sapphire’s shoulder. She hugs her tightly. “But… you’re okay, right?”

Sapphire pushes her away slightly, but only so she can put her hands on Ruby’s shoulders. She smiles, and she’s so very beautiful. “Ruby, of course I am.”

She leans forwards and kisses the corner of Ruby’s eye, wiping her tears away with her lips. Ruby smiles weakly and kisses her back.

“I missed you.”

“I know. I missed you too.”

Ruby smiles, brushing tears from her eyes. “I love you.”

And, still crying but they’re happy tears now, Ruby picks up Sapphire and spins her around and around… and Garnet forms, still laughing and wiping tears from her three eyes.


	2. Amethyst/Peridot

Peridot is autistic. She has known this for a while, ever since Steven helped her align her autistic traits to the human developmental disability called autism. And it helped her realise that she isn’t just a defective peridot – this is how she is, and she doesn’t need to be fixed.

Still, there are some autistic traits she would rather she didn’t have. One of these traits is her ability to experience sensory overload. Her senses, particularly her hearing, are very sensitive. And so it doesn’t take a lot for Peridot’s senses to overload and for her to go into a complete panic.

It happens gradually at first, with her senses getting more and more sensitive and the slightest thing annoying her when it would never normally bother her. So she might be sat in the barn with Lapis, watching _Camp Pining Hearts_ , and suddenly the volume is way too loud and it’s making her head hurt. And she tries to control her sensory overload, stimming frantically and retreating to an environment that doesn’t hurt, but she knows it’s quite likely that everything will build up and up until she just explodes and has a meltdown.

But she hopes she won’t, because meltdowns are so horrible.

\---

One day, Peridot sits on the couch in Steven’s house at the Temple, hunched up and writing cheeps on her tablet. She isn’t in the best mood, to be honest: she and Lapis had an argument earlier about a side character in _Camp Pining Hearts_ , and Steven keeps wandering around, playing his ukulele. And she doesn’t normally have a problem with his music, but today it’s just making her head hurt.

As Peridot types on her tablet, Amethyst wanders over and sits down beside her.

“Hey, P-Dot, can I put my arm around you?” she asks.

Peridot nods, smiling slightly, but doesn’t look up from her tablet. She’s too busy writing another cheep, documenting her experiments with her metal powers.

Amethyst puts her arm around Peridot’s shoulders. But something is wrong. A gesture that she usually finds soothing is really quite uncomfortable, making her skin prickle. She flinches away, shuffling across the couch and turning to face Amethyst, her legs crossed.

“Is something wrong?” Amethyst says, looking at her.

“That hurt,” she mumbles.

“Huh?” Amethyst leans towards her. “Peri, are you okay?”

Peridot shrugs, typing the word ‘CLODS’ over and over again. “I don’t know. Everything just feels weird today.”

Amethyst just stares at her, and Peridot hears her sigh. “Hey, is this your… sensory overload thing?”

Peridot keeps typing, even though she’s run out of characters.

“I think so.”

“Well… is there something we can do to help?”

Peridot sighs. “I don’t know.”

Amethyst is about to say something when something terrible happens. She’s just in the middle of making another cheep when the screen of her tablet goes black. She gasps.

“Amethyst! My screen went black.”

Amethyst shuffles closer and looks at her tablet. Her hands shaking, Peridot presses all of the buttons on the tablet, trying to switch it back on, but nothing works. The screen is black.

“What? Is it broken?”

“I don’t know!” Peridot cries, gritting her jaw. She drops her tablet on her lap and presses her hands against the sides of her head. “I don’t know!”

“Hey, hey, easy, Peri,” Amethyst says, trying to be soothing. “It’s okay—”

“But it’s not! My tablet won’t work!”

She groans, trying to process her emotions but finding her mind just swarming with thoughts about her tablet and losing the piece of tech that helps her learn about this planet and even communicate when she loses the ability to speak, and about how everything else has gone wrong today and she hates it she hates it she hates it.

“What’s going on in here?” Garnet says, walking into the room.

Peridot jumps and curls in on herself, tucking her knees up to her chest.

“Peri’s freaking out,” Amethyst says, rushing over to Garnet and clinging to her arm.

“I believe a meltdown is the preferred name for it,” Garnet says. “But I understand. You’re panicking. And, Peridot,” she adds, raising her voice as she calls across the room. “I can leave if you want.”

She’s really stuggling to process their voices, but Peridot understands. “Please.”

“Okay, then. I hope you feel better soon,” Garnet says, and Peridot hears her leave the room.

Without speaking, Peridot topples over and curls up on her side. She wraps her arms around herself, longing for her gem to stop overloading like this.

“Peri?” Amethyst calls. “Um… you want me to leave too?”

But Peridot shakes her head, regretting it when it makes the world spin. “No. Please… don’t leave. Stay here. Please.”

“Okay, Peri. I won’t go anywhere.”

Curling up on the couch as her entire body hurts, Peridot starts crying, tears leaking from the corners of her eyes.

“Hey, please don’t cry,” Amethyst whispers, walking back over and sitting down next to her.

But she can’t stop. Her whole body hurts and her gem is overloading and why did this have to happen to her tablet and she just wants to feel normal again.

She sobs and sobs, the cries cracking in her throat as she trembles. And Amethyst sits beside her, and Peridot hears her crying too. And she wants to comfort her, but she never knows how to and, anyway, all she can do right now is sob. She just wants this to be over.

\---

Hours after her meltdown, Peridot is struggling to talk. But at least she didn’t accidentally crack her gem during the meltdown and Steven has managed to fix her tablet. And she has Amethyst’s arms around her, feeling so secure in her partner’s arms.

“Thanks,” she says, her voice flat.

“For what?” Amethyst says, cradling Peridot to her chest.

She can’t put what she wants to say into speech, so Peridot types it instead. Opening the notebook app on her repaired tablet, she types:

**Thank you for staying with me when I had the meltdown. I appreciate your help.**

“Aww, it’s no problem, Peri,” Amethyst says. “Course I’m gonna look out for you. I love you.”

Peridot blushes. “Love you… too.”

And she smiles, slightly embarrassed, and cuddles up to Amethyst, so glad to have someone like her around.


	3. Pearl/Rose

Taking advantage of the court’s distracted focus on the Sapphire and the Ruby who just fused (she didn’t even know if that was possible), Pearl and Rose Quartz run for it. Wielding her spear with one hand, Pearl uses her other to hold Rose’s hand, having to hurry to keep up with her taller, stronger partner.

Once safely back on the ground, they run through the still-unfamiliar landscape of their new planet (Pearl is still amazed that Earth, as it is called, is such a beautiful planet), still holding hands. If Pearl needed to breathe, she knows she would be very much out of breath.

“How are you, Pearl?” Rose asks.

And Pearl turns her head to look up at Rose, once again getting transfixed by Rose’s beauty; she has know Rose for a long time now, but she never fails to completely lose herself in Rose’s beauty. “I’m fine.”

But she doesn’t take her eyes from Rose. Which leads to her running straight into a tree. At the speed that Gems run, the force is more the equivalent of slamming face-first into concrete. So it makes sense when Pearl crashes to the woodland floor, a hideous crack ringing in her ears.

“Pearl!” Rose cries, kneeling down beside her. “Your gem…”

“My gem?” Pearl says, and she raises her arm to touch her gem. But then her arm glitches, and she realises exactly what Rose meant.

Her gem has cracked.

Her body glitches again, something very weird happening to her leg. She groans, feeling like such a fool that she made it through an attack only to crack her gem by banging her head on a tree.

She looks at Rose. Tears run down Rose’s face. She is crying.

“My poor Pearl,” she whispers, clasping Pearl’s hand between both of her own.

Pearl’s own eyes fill with tears. “Don’t cry. Please.”

But Rose does cry. She leans down and presses a kiss to Pearl’s lips, and her tears leak across Pearl’s forehead. Across her gem…

And then the crack in her gem heals, turning it back to normal.

Of course! Rose has healing tears!

Pearl looks up at her, still weak even though the crack has healed. Rose smiles, tears still running down her cheeks.

“Thank you, Rose,” she says.

“My Pearl,” Rose says, kissing her again. “I would do it any time.”

Rose picks her up and insists on carrying Pearl for the rest of their journey. Not that Pearl complains, more interested in cuddling up next to her wonderful, amazing partner who just saved her from potential death.

She loves her so much. And she knows she will love Rose for as long as she lives.


	4. Doc/Leggy

Steven never expected the Rubies to be so… stupid, but here they are. Although he’s pretty stupid too, blurting out the idea for everyone to play a baseball game. Which is why he and the Gems (apart from Peridot) are currently out in the field outside the barn, playing a baseball game with the five Ruby soldiers and their own Ruby.

But you have to hand it to them; the Rubies picked up the rules for their Earth game pretty quickly. And they’re really good at it too.

Apart from the Ruby with her gem on her leg, who Steven has dubbed Leggy. She’s clumsy and awkward, and keeps dropping the bat, failing to hit the ball and tripping over her own feet as she runs. Of course, this is good for the Crystal Gems, because if the Rubies lose they can’t search the barn and find Peridot, but Steven does feel a bit sorry for her. Especially because her clumsiness is annoying at least two of the other Rubies.

The one Steven calls Army and the one he’s named Eyeball are irritated by Leggy’s constant clumsiness, groaning whenever she trips or drops something, and folding their arms, clearly very annoyed.

At one point in the game, Pearl bowls the ball and it flies towards Leggy. She swings the bat… and misses.

“Strike!” Amethyst yells.

“Come on, Ruby!” Army yells. “Don’t blow it for us!”

“Yeah, it’s not difficult to hit a ball!” Eyeball shouts.

Pearl throws the next ball… which Leggy misses.

“Strike two!”

“Seriously!?” Army cries, throwing her arms up in the air in exasperation.

Steven looks at Leggy; her face is tense, her hands shaking, and he wonders if she’s going to cry.

Pearl throws the final ball. Leggy swings the bat desperately, but she misses.

“Strike three! You’re out!” Amethyst yells.

Eyeball groans. “Do you want us to lose?”

Leggy sighs and drops the bat. She walks back to the bench, hanging her head.

Steven feels so sorry for her. And he’s about to go over and try and talk to her when Doc shuffles along the bench and puts her arm around Leggy.

“Hey, newbie,” she says. “You okay?”

Leggy shrugs, but Steven sees her eyes fill with tears. “Not really.”

“Hey, don’t cry,” Doc says, squeezing Leggy’s shoulder.

But Leggy lets out a spluttering sob and tears start to run down her face. And Doc suddenly looks very angry, standing up suddenly. She waits for Navy to get her home run (Navy hurries back over to the bench, giving Leggy a sympathetic smile), before glaring down the bench at Army and Eyeball.

“We’re supposed to be a team, Rubies!” she says. “And I don’t think it is good teamwork to make one of our teammates cry.”

She gestures at the still sobbing Leggy, who has her arms wrapped around herself as she cries.

“But, we’re gonna lose if she keeps messing up,” Army says.

“Yes, and we’re gonna lose if she’s too upset to play because you lot keep picking on her.”

Eyeball stands up, sighing. “Fine.” She walks over to Leggy and claps her on the shoulder. “Sorry, Ruby. But try to hit the ball next time.”

And she takes the bat from Navy and heads over to take her turn batting. Steven keeps his focus on Doc and Leggy, confused to see the Ruby leader being so kind to Leggy.

Doc sits back down beside Leggy, putting her arm around her again. Leggy leans against her, still crying.

“Come on, newbie, stop that crying,” she says softly.

Leggy smiles weakly and wipes her eyes. She turns to hug Doc properly, nuzzling her head against Doc’s neck, and Doc rubs her back.

“It’s okay,” Doc says. “You don’t need to cry.”

And Steven smiles as he watches this scene, knowing that the pair are dating. And he’s glad that Doc is looking after Leggy, because he felt so sorry for her earlier. But she’s going to be okay, because she has Doc looking out for her.


	5. Pearl/Bill Dewey

Sitting at his desk in his office, Mayor Bill Dewey coughs for the fiftieth time that morning. He groans and wipes his nose with a screwed up tissue, cursing his body for catching something as annoying as the flu.

He tries to focus on his report, but his muscles ache and his head feels bunged up and he coughs or has to blow his nose every few seconds. So he doesn’t get very far.

Bill groans again, coughing heavily, able to feel the phlegm clogging up his lungs. He rests his chin on his hand, his head feeling heavy, and tries so hard to focus on the words on the page. But his head is so bunged up and his eyes ache from barely sleeping last night.

Basically, he feels awful.

\---

Only a couple of hours after he arrived at work, Bill’s secretary comes into his office with his normal cup of coffee.

And she only has to take one look at him before sighing and saying, “Sir, you look dreadful. I think you should go home.”

Bill looks up at her, really having to focus through the fog in his brain. “Do you think so?”

“Yes, I do. I think you’d better go home,” she says.

Bill doesn’t have the energy to argue. To be honest, he wants to go home himself. “Very well. I can do nothing for the citizens of Beach City in this state. I’ll go home and come back to work when I have recovered.”

As he stumbles out of his office, his secretary smiles at him.

\---

Although he doesn’t feel like the safest driver like this, Bill knows he doesn’t have the strength to walk all the way home either. So he climbs into his van, by this point shivering despite the warm seaside air, and takes a painfully slow drive down to the beach.

Ever since he started dating Pearl, Bill has spent most of his daytimes at the beach house next to the weird Gem Temple, only going back home to sleep (when he isn’t out with his boyfriend and girlfriend, Buck often hangs out at the beach house too). So that is the place he heads, hoping to find Pearl while he’s here.

He wanders across the beach, his weak leg muscles wobbling more with each step. Bill coughs again, the action making his chest hurt. By the time he has climbed the steps up to the house, he’s so out of breath that he descends into a violent coughing fit. He slumps against the wall, coughing and coughing as his pale face flushes and his lungs burn and his throat hurts and he feels so dreadful.

“Mr Dewey?”

Bill opens his eyes, still coughing but not nearly so violently, and finds himself looking at Amethyst. She leans against the doorway, looking at him with a faint degree of sympathy.

“Oh, uh,” he coughs again. “Hello.”

“Aren’t you usually at work around this time?” Amethyst says.

“Yes, I suppose I am. But… I’m sick so I left work early.”

Amethyst perks up. “You’re sick? Cool! What’s wrong with you? Do you have any really gross symptoms?”

Bill coughs again. “Um, I suppose so. Is Pearl here?”

“Want your girlfriend, do you?” Amethyst says, grinning. “Yeah, she’s here. Come on in.”

Smiling gratefully, Bill follows her into the house. Steven is up in his room, watching TV, and Garnet and Pearl are in the kitchen, leaning against the counter as something cooks in the oven.

Pearl turns her head notices Bill, her eyes widening. She hurries over to him. “Bill, what are you doing here? And what’s wrong with you?”

Bill shrugs as she hugs him. Then she holds his shoulders at arm’s length and studies his pale, clammy face, and his red, sore nose.

“I have the flu,” he says. When he is met by only confused stares, he adds, “Its short for influenza.”

“It’s a human disease,” Steven says, wandering down the stairs into the main room. “You’ve got the flu, Mayor Dewey?”

Bill nods and coughs again, the hacking sound making Pearl flinch. “Yes, I’ve got the flu.”

“Is it contagious?” Pearl asks.

“Only to humans,” Steven says, which explains why he’s stood several feet away from Bill.

“I should get better in a few days,” Bill says, wiping his nose with one of the many tissues stuffed into his pockets. “But, right now, I feel dreadful.”

“I can see why,” Pearl says, looking much more sympathetic now she knows she can’t catch his virus. She links arms with Bill and pats his shoulder. “You certainly look unwell. Come on, you should sit down.”

She leads him over to the couch, which Bill happily slumps on.

“Thank you, Pearl,” he says, raising his arms above his head to stretch his stiff muscles.

Pearl smiles. “It isn’t a problem, my Bill.”

\---

By that evening, Bill still feels very ill – if anything, he probably feels even worse. All of the glands in his neck are sore and hurt whenever he turns his head, and the slightest movement is starting to make him nauseous.

But it still surprises him when Pearl says, “I don’t want you to be alone all night when you are this ill. Can I spend the night at your house?”

Bill blushes, a huge amount of colour suddenly rushing to his very pale face. “Um… of course you can. If you want to.”

Amethyst wolf whistles, and Steven giggles.

Pearl pretends to ignore them, but she smiles. “Right, then. Let’s take you home.”

Smiling, Bill stands up and steps forwards, but the world spins and he slumps back onto the couch. He groans, screwing his eyes up.

“Mr Dewey?” Garnet says. “Do you feel faint?”

“Yeah,” he mumbles, horribly dizzy.

He hears Garnet walk over. “Would you like me to carry you back to your van?”

Bill opens his eyes; her image distorts in front of him. He wonders if she might be winding him up, but Garnet doesn’t seem like the type to do that. “Um… please. If you don’t mind.”

“I don’t,” Garnet says, and she picks him up like he isn’t a fully grown man.

Everything spins again and he groans, closing his eyes. And then, in one of the weirdest experiences in his life, Garnet carries Bill across the beach and deposits him in the passenger seat of his van.

He mumbles a thank you to Garnet as Pearl gets into the driver’s seat.

“Right, let’s get you home,” she says, and Bill sees her smile.

\---

At home, Buck looks very confused to see Bill stumbling through the doorway, with Pearl holding his arm to keep him upright.

“Dad?” he says.

“My flu’s much worse,” Bill says, coughing again.

“I’ve decided to stay the night to look after your father,” Pearl says, smiling at Buck. “Is that all right with you?”

Buck shrugs. “Whatever. I just want my dad to get better.”

“I’m sure he will,” Pearl says. “Now, excuse us, but I need to get Bill to bed before he faints.”

As Pearl helps Bill walk past Buck, he feels his son give him a pat on the shoulder. Bill smiles weakly.

\---

In his bedroom, Bill kicks his shoes off and crawls into bed without getting undressed. Pearl looks unimpressed, but doesn’t make him change. She does, however, make him take his tie off.

She sits on top of the bed covers beside him, helping him pull the blankets up to his chin. Pearl puts a glass of water on his bedside table and gives him a big packet of tissues for when he needs to cough or blow his nose.

“Thank you, Pearl,” he says hoarsely. “Would you… like to get under the blankets with me?”

“If you would like,” Pearl says with a small smile. “But do remember that I don’t need to sleep.”

“Of course,” Bill says, wondering how he forgot one of the many things that separate Pearl (and the rest of the Gems) from himself.

But Pearl does get under the blankets. She kisses his forehead and says, “Good night, Bill. I hope you recover from your virus quickly.”

Bill smiles. “Thanks. Night, Pearl.”

\---

In the middle of the night, Bill jolts awake. He lies on his back, his stomach churning with overwhelming nausea, his head throbbing and his chest burning.

“Bill?” Pearl whispers. “Have you woken up?”

Bill opens his mouth to speak, but instead starts coughing violently. Pearl switches on the light as Bill hauls himself upright, and it feels like his lungs are going to implode if he coughs any harder. Tears start to well up in his eyes, partly from the stress of coughing but mainly from feeling so ill.

“Bill?” Pearl says, putting her hand on his back. “Bill?”

Bill coughs and coughs, and Pearl rubs his back. After what feels like forever, he groans and coughs up a mouthful of phlegm, and then slumps back against the pillows, wiping his nose on a tissue. He blinks and tears spill down his flushed face.

“Sorry,” he mumbles.

“Don’t apologise. It isn’t as though you woke me up,” Pearl says. “Besides, I’m worried about you.” She looks at him closely, and her eyes widen. “Are you crying?”

Bill nods and wipes his eyes. Pearl sighs and hugs him.

“Please don’t cry,” she whispers. Pearl reaches for the glass of water and hands it to him. “Here, drink some water.”

Smiling weakly, Bill takes the water. He sips it and the cool water soothes his sore throat.

“Thank you.”

Pearl wraps her arms around him, hugging Bill tightly. And Bill leans his head against hers as tears still trickle down his face, knowing that even though he feels dreadful, at least he isn’t alone.


	6. Sour Cream/Buck Dewey/Jenny Pizza

Jenny can always tell when something is wrong with Sour Cream, even when they don’t tell her. There’s just something about the subtle changes in their behaviour that gives her an instant clue that there is something wrong. And that ‘something’ is usually gender dysphoria.

Jenny, Sour Cream and Buck have known each other for years and years. And, for most of those years, she has known that they are nonbinary. Sour Cream came out as nonbinary when they were all ten, requesting that everyone use gender neutral pronouns for them. And, as everyone in Beach City isn’t an asshole, everyone followed their request. Including Jenny and Buck, their best friends.

The three of them started dating a couple of years later, and have been a close triad ever since. So of course Jenny is able to recognise when Sour Cream is feeling dysphoric, because she has known them for so long that she knows them almost as well as she knows herself.

Sour Cream doesn’t feel dysphoric most of the time. But when they do, it hits them hard. They just seem… deflated, their voice mumbling when they speak, their movements slow and sluggish. They suddenly have no interest in DJ-ing anymore, which says a lot, because it’s their favourite hobby. And whilst they normally have no problem with Buck and Jenny seeing them in their underwear, Sour Cream keeps wrapped up in lots of layers, as though they don’t want to see their own body. Basically, they feel dreadful – and Jenny always notices long before they say anything.

Today is much the same. Sour Cream is hunched up in bed in their bedroom, knees hugged up to their chest and their eyes on some crap cartoon on the TV. Buck and Jenny are sat on the end of their bed, trying to make conversation. But it’s such an effort and they’re just worried about Sour Cream.

Sour Cream sighs shakily. “I’m not feeling too good today.”

“We noticed,” Buck says, sliding his sunglasses down his nose so Sour Cream can see his eyes. “Are you dyshoric?”

They chuckle weakly. “Is it that obvious?”

“To be honest, yeah, it is,” Jenny says. “You’re always like this when your dysphoria’s this bad. All depressed and sad and weak.”

“Yeah, it’s really quite upsetting to see you like this,” Buck says. he reaches across the bed and pats Sour Cream’s knee.

They sigh again. “Sorry.”

Jenny shuffles closer and puts her hand on their shoulder. “Don’t talk like that. You don’t need to be sorry. We just… we wish there was something we could do to help you feel better.”

Sour Cream looks at her. Their eyes are so… dead. They’re so sad it’s like they’re dead inside. She wants her fun, musical, happy datemate back.

“Trust me,” they say. “I wish I could too.”

Buck’s eyes look shiny, which must be why he covers his eyes with his sunglasses again. “Is there anything we can get you? A donut? A drink? Anything?”

Sour Cream shrugs. “Don’t think so. But… thanks. Really, thanks. I love you guys.”

“Aww, thanks, SC,” Jenny says, and she gives them a quick kiss on the forehead.

Buck copies her, kissing their nose instead. Sour Cream chuckles weakly.

But then… as they lie there, staring up at Jenny and Buck, their datemates of over five years, Sour Cream’s eyes fill with tears. And then they let out a shuddering sigh and tears spill down their cheeks.

And Jenny just wants to curl up in a ball and cry. “No, no, don’t cry! Please don’t cry!”

Her own eyes fill with tears, just from the horror of seeing poor Sour Cream break down. Buck looks stoic, but a single tear trickles out from behind his sunglasses.

Jenny wraps her arms around Sour Cream, pulling them into a hug. Buck crouches down beside their bed and rubs their back, using his other hand to brush stray hairs from Sour Cream’s forehead.

“I didn’t mean to cry,” Sour Cream whispers. “I just feel so… bad.”

“No, it’s okay,” Jenny says, trying her hardest to soothe them.

“Everyone needs to cry sometimes,” Buck says. “Its okay, Sour Cream. We’re here.”

Jenny smiles weakly and kisses Buck’s cheek. “Yeah, and we’re not going anywhere.”

Sour Cream’s breathing shudders with sobs, but they whisper, “I love you two so much.”


	7. Amethyst/Garnet/Pearl

As she gets herself a glass of water, Pearl decides to check if Amethyst has taken her meds today. There is a plastic pill box on the windowsill, which contains Amethyst’s meds (a mood stabiliser) for each day of the week. And Amethyst is quite a forgetful person, so Pearl often has to prompt her.

So she flips open the box – and finds that Amethyst didn’t take her meds this morning. But… she also didn’t take them yesterday. Or the day before.

This isn’t good. She needs her medication to help her regulate her mood, because otherwise Amethyst gets mood swings that leave her very distressed. Surely she can’t have forgotten to take her pills for three whole days?

But then that would mean… she is deliberately not taking her meds. But why would she do that?

Shaking her head, Pearl heads off to find her, accidentally leaving her water behind.

She finds Amethyst and Garnet in the living room, sat on the couch together. Amethyst is lying down on her side, watching the TV with her feet resting on Garnet’s lap.

“Um… Amethyst, can I ask you something?” she asks, trying not to sound awkward.

Amethyst looks at her; her face is washed out, her eyelids drooping. “Sure, P. What’s up?”

Garnet doesn’t speak, but she glances at Pearl. The expression on her face tells Pearl that she knows exactly what is about to happen.

“Well, I just want to know why you haven’t been taking your meds the last few days.”

For the first time in days, Amethyst looks wide awake. She sits up sharply, accidentally kicking Garnet in the stomach in the process. “What?!”

“I just checked the pill box, and you haven’t taken your medication for the past three days,” Pearl says, hoping they’re not going to have an argument.

“And?” Amethyst says.

“It’s not good to avoid taking your medication, you know,” Garnet says.

Amethyst sighs. “Oh shut up! You’re not a fucking doctor!”

“Yes, but your doctor is,” Pearl says, her hands starting to shake. “And he said you need to keep taking them.”

“I know! I was there. And I was okay with it. But…” Amethyst sighs shakily, rubbing her hands across her face.

Pearl steps closer. Her voice is soft as she says, “But what?”

“Amethyst?” Garnet says.

“They make me feel horrible!” Amethyst finally blurts out, letting her hair fall forwards across her face so Pearl can no longer see her eyes.

Garnet reaches to put her hand on Amethyst’s shoulder, but Amethyst flinches away. “What do you mean?”

“They make me feel sick and dizzy and I’m starving hungry all the time and I fucking hate it, so I stopped taking them! And…” Amethyst’s voice cracks and she trails off, screwing her face up.

Pearl hurries over to her and pulls Amethyst into a hug. But, this time, she doesn’t flinch away. She slumps against Pearl, and she starts to sob.

“I just feel so shit!” she sobs. “I feel shit if I take my meds. I feel shit if I don’t take my meds. It’s like I’m just supposed to feel awful!”

“Please don’t talk like that,” Garnet says, rubbing Amethyst’s back as she sobs in Pearl’s embrace. “You’re not supposed to feel awful. And you won’t feel awful forever. I promise.”

“Really?” Amethyst whispers, her voice thick with sobs.

“Of course,” Pearl says, willing herself not to cry. “We’ll go back to the doctor and we’ll find you meds that don’t have horrible side effects. We promise.”

Amethyst sniffs, burrowing her face into Pearl’s shoulder. Garnet kisses the top of her head.

“Thank you,” Amethyst mumbles. “It’s just how hard to… I still can’t quite believe that you two love me so much. I mean, you’re so caring and… I just can’t believe I’ve got such wonderful girlfriends.”

That’s enough to make Pearl start crying. Tears run down her face and Garnet smiles sadly as she wipes Pearl’s tears away.

“Well, we’re here, we’re real,” Garnet says. “We love you, and we’re going to help you through this. Okay?”

Amethyst hesitates. But then she whispers, “Okay.”

And Pearl smiles, tears running down her face, and Garnet kisses her.

They know what’s wrong now. And they’ll be able to help Amethyst. Because they love her and they want to help her feel better.


	8. Steven/Connie

Sometimes, being friends with Steven and always going training or on missions with him and the Gems, Connie almost forgets that she’s a human. A human with a body that can break easily. A human who is mortal. A human who can die if she gets hurt too badly.

So sometimes this fact can hit her hard, bringing Connie back down to Earth with a thud. And she needs to remember that she is human, because she doesn’t want to get herself hurt in her attempts to show that she is strong and worthy of helping them. But, sometimes, she forgets.

And, one day, this is what happens.

Steven and Connie hold hands as they run through the forest, Steven with his shield hovering in front of his arm, and Connie holding the huge pink sword she has come to think of as her own. Separated from the Gems, they’re trying to both find Pearl and Garnet again, and find the corrupted gem they were hunting for in the first place.

Despite being very fit from all of her training, Connie is rapidly getting out of breath. Steven can run so fast; these are the times she gets reminded that they are very much different.

“I think it’s over there!” Steven says, tilting his head as he points somewhere to his left. “Come on!”

They swerve to the left, running deeper into the woodland. The trees are denser here, and they have to dodge to avoid running straight into trees. Connie gets smacked in the face by a twig and it rips a scratch right across her forehead.

“Ouch!” she cries.

“Connie, you’re hurt!” Steven yells, and he skids to a stop.

He turns to look at her, a bubble automatically appearing around them both. His eyes widen, tracking the scratch across her forehead.

“No, Steven, I’m okay,” she says, trying to reassure him. “It’s just a scratch. A twig smacked me in the face.” Connie reaches up and touches the scratch; there’s no blood on her fingers. “See, I’m not even bleeding.”

Steven smiles, visibly relieved. “But I still think I should heal it for you.”

Back when Steven accidentally fixed her vision, Connie was incredibly freaked out by Steven’s healing spit. But now, it’s just another weird thing her boyfriend can do.]

“Um… sure, if you want.”

“Great!” Steven says. He goes to lick his hand, but stops. “I’ve got a better idea. What about this way?”

And Steven leans forwards and presses a kiss to her forehead. A tingling sensation spreads across her skin, and Connie knows the scratch has disappeared.

“There, good as new!” Steven says, grinning.

Connie smiles. “Thank you, Steven.”

“No problem.”

With this minor problem corrected, Steven’s bubble disappears, they hold hands again, and carry on jogging through the forest. But then, just as everything seems like it’s going to plan—

“Aah!”

Connie gets her foot caught in a warped tree root and crashes to the woodland floor. With her foot stuck, her leg twists sharply and Connie feels the most horrible snap. And then hideous, overwhelming pain spreads through her ankle.

“Ow!” she cries, and her eyes fill with tears.

Immediately, Steven is kneeling beside her, a protective pink bubble once again surrounding them.

“Connie! What’s wrong?”

“My… my ankle,” she gasps, her voice trembling. Tears blur her vision. “I think it’s broken.”

“B-Broken…” Steven stutters. He looks so confused and scared. “It’s broken.” He looks like he wants to cry, but instead he gives her the biggest, but clearly fake, smile and hugs her. “But, I can fix it for you!”

Connie blinks and the tears spill down her face. He hugs her again, running his fingers through her hair. She groans, the pain in her leg worse than almost anything she’s ever experienced.

“Yeah,” she says weakly. “You can fix it.”

Steven pulls away, and she sees that he’s crying too, tears leaking from red eyes. He sniffs. “Okay, I’ll sort this out for you.”

He shuffles over to her feet, and then looks at her. “Sorry, but I’m gonna have to take of your boot. And…”

“It’ll hurt,” she says, finishing his sentence. “I know. But… you can do it.”

Steven nods, still sobbing, and carefully starts to undo Connie’s boot. This jolts her broken ankle and she has to bite her lip to stop herself screaming.

“Sorry, sorry,” Steven mumbles, his voice shaking as he cries.

His hands tremble as he undoes the laces on her boot, and then carefully slides it over her heel and off of her foot. Connie whimpers, tears running down her face, but the pain is already subsiding without her boot on.

Steven just has to take off her sock, and then her ankle is exposed. They both grimace at the sight of it. Her ankle is badly swollen, her bone clearly distorted beneath her puffy skin.

And then Steven takes a deep breath and licks his hand, and Connie holds her breath and screws her eyes up, and he covers her broken ankle with his hand.

It feels even weirder than when he healed the cut on her face, and somehow even weirder than when he fixed her eyes, the weird tingling feeling going right up her leg and right down her foot, as though the swelling is dispersing. As her ankle heals, Steven makes eye contact, and he smiles through his tears.

And then her broken ankle is mended, just like that. Connie slowly rotates her ankle, but it doesn’t hurt in the slightest and the swelling and distortion has gone. And then she grins and pulls Steven into a tight hug.

“Thank you, Steven,” she says, and she’s grinning even though the tears are still running down her face.

And Steven giggles tearfully, squeezing her tightly as he whispers, “No problemo.”

So, yeah, Connie sometimes forgets how fragile she is as a human. But at least she knows that, when she gets hurt, she has her wonderful boyfriend with his amazing healing powers to look out for her.


	9. Lars/Ronaldo/Sadie

Lars is in a bad mood. Not that this is a strange occurrence, because he’s often in a foul mood. The combination of just being a teenager (which is known to make you moody), dealing with regular gender dysphoria, and having a rather bad case of depression means it’s very, very likely to find Lars in a mood. Still, some of his moods are worse than others.

Such as today’s mood, which has to be one of his worse ones. Lars, Sadie and Ronaldo are all sat together in Sadie’s basement bedroom, but Sadie and Ronaldo are the only ones who appear to be having fun. Ronaldo is sprawled on a beanbag whilst Sadie sits in the huge pile of stuffed toys that her mom keeps giving her, chatting to each other about work and the rock concert being shown two towns over that they’re planning on going to.

But Lars isn’t joining in. he’s lying on the bed, curled up on his side and facing away from them both. Every attempt at conversation so far has led to him snapping at them, but Sadie is stupid enough to think that talking to him this time will end in success.

So she wanders over and coughs awkwardly. “Um… Lars, is there anything I can get for you?”

“No thanks,” Lars mutters, his voice flat.

Sadie hesitates. But then she says, “Um… well, is there anything you want to talk about?”

“Nah, I’m good,” Lars says, and there’s an edge to his voice.

She knows she should just leave him alone. But… this is her boyfriend. She’s worried about him. She hates to see him struggling. And she knows Ronaldo feels exactly the same way.

“But… don’t you want to talk?”

“No, I don’t,” Lars says, his teeth gritted.

“Are you—”

“I’m fine, Sadie!” he snaps, sitting up sharply.

Sadie jumps, flinching at the biting tone to his voice.

“God, why can’t you just let me rest on my own?”

But before Sadie has a chance to reply, Lars gets up and storms out of the room, slamming the door behind him.

And Sadie stands there, her eyes filling with tears.

“Sadie?” Ronaldo whispers. He walks up behind her and puts his hand on her shoulder. “Sadie? You okay? Sorry, that’s a stupid question.”

She slowly turns around at looks at him. Ronaldo’s eyes are wide, clearly distressed by what has just happened.

And then her face crumples and she starts to sob.

“No, please don’t cry!” Ronaldo cries, hugging Sadie so tightly it’s quite hard to breathe. “It’s okay. We can make this better. Just don’t cry.”

Sadie burrows her face into his chest, wishing she could stop crying. But she can’t. It just hurt so much for Lars to yell at her, when all she was doing was trying to look out for him.

And so Ronaldo hugs Sadie as she sobs, and she thinks he might be crying too, wishing dating wasn’t so fucking difficult.

\---

About an hour after the row, Lars returns. He knocks on the door and then slinks into the room, hanging his head. Just like Sadie’s, his eyes are red.

“Sadie, I’m sorry for yelling at you,” he says, mumbling his words.

“Its okay, Lars, I—”

“No, it’s not,” Lars says, cutting her off. He sighs. “Look, I know I’m depressed and dysphoric as fuck and generally an irritating bastard to be around, but those are all my problems. I shouldn’t have been an asshole and yelled at you, no matter now shit I feel. I’m sorry.”

Sadie smiles, her eyes filling with tears. She’s never heard Lars say something so sincere.

“I… I accept your apology,” she says.

Ronaldo grins and flings his arms around them both, pulling the three of them into a hug. Sadie giggles and kisses him, and even Lars cracks his first smile of the day.

“I love you guys,” Ronaldo says.

And as much as Lars and Ronaldo can infuriate her, Sadie knows she loves them both too.


	10. Steven/Peridot

When Steven Quartz Universe returns from a three hour lecture, a huge bag of textbooks hurting his back, the first thing he hears when he walks into his apartment on campus is the sound of crying. He tenses up; he hates it when people cry.

And then he realises who’s crying. It’s his girlfriend, Peridot.

“Peridot!?” he yells, dumping his bag by the door and rushing through the shared apartment. The sound seems to be coming from Peridot’s bedroom, so that’s where he hurries. He knocks on the door. “Peridot? Are you okay?”

Peridot is clearly sobbing, making sniffling noises as she cries. “No, I’m not. Can you come in?”

Apprehensive, Steven opens the door and walks into Peridot’s bedroom. She’s hunched up on the bed, not wearing her leg prosthetics (but she’s still wearing her arm one). And there are tears streaming down her face.

“What’s wrong?” he says, rushing across the room and sitting down beside her.

Peridot sniffs and hands him something. It’s one of her leg prosthetics. At least, it was… before it snapped clean in two.

So that’s it. Her prosthetic has broken.

“It just snapped!” Peridot moans, screwing her face up. “The piece of shit! Doesn’t it realise how much I rely on it?”

Steven hugs her, wrapping his arms around his girlfriend and holding her tightly. He rests his chin on the top of her blonde hair, and he can feel her trembling as she cries.

“What am I going to do now?” she cries.

“I don’t know,” Steven says, wishing she would stop crying. “But we’ll work this out. We can get it fixed, and we’ll get you some crutches in the meantime, or I could just carry you everywhere.”

He grins, trying to lighten the mood. Peridot pulls away and looks at him, tears shining on her face. The corners of her mouth quirk into a small smile.

“Yes, I suppose that could work,” she says, her voice wobbling slightly.

Steven smiles and nuzzles her ear with his nose. “But seriously, we’ll sort this out. I promise, Peri.”

Peridot smiles weakly and kisses his cheek. “Wow, thanks.”


	11. Lapis & Peridot

It’s the middle of the night. If she was a human, Peridot would be asleep. But she isn’t human, and she doesn’t understand why some gems (like Amethyst) like to sleep when it isn’t even necessary for their overall wellbeing. So, with nothing else to do while everyone else in this whole hemisphere is asleep, Peridot sits up and watches episode after episode of _Camp Pining Hearts_.

And she is about thirty episodes into her favourite television show when something suddenly occurs to her: where is Lapis? Her barn-mate (as Steven likes to call them) isn’t sat beside her, watching the television. But she also isn’t anywhere else inside the barn. Where has she gone, and when did she leave without Peridot noticing?

Even though she doesn’t want to seem all sentimental, Peridot has come to care deeply about the gem she shares the barn with. And she can’t help but worry that something bad has happened. So Peridot pauses her DVD, gets up and walks out of the barn.

She walks the perimeter of the barn, looking all around her for any signs of Lapis. But she isn’t anywhere that she can see. So she tries another tactic: screaming her name as loud as she can.

“LAPIS!” she yells, cupping her hands around her mouth to make her voice even louder. “LAPIS!?”

And that’s when she hears something. Lapis doesn’t reply, but she makes a loud gasping sound. And it sounds like the noise came from… above?

And then she realises where Lapis is. She’s on the roof of the barn!

So Peridot grabs a ladder from inside the barn (there’s all sorts of rubbish in there), leans it against the side of the barn and starts to climb it. By the time she’s reached the top, she’s cursing the clods who threw away her limb enhancers.

On top of the barn, she spots Lapis. She’s sat on the edge of the roof with her feet resting on the guttering, hugging her knees to her chest. Her eyes are vacant and she stares out into the darkness, the moonlight reflecting off of her wide eyes.

“Lapis?” Peridot whispers, stumbling across the roof towards her friend.

Lapis doesn’t respond.

“Lapis?” she says, a bit louder. And then, in an attempt to get her attention, she yells, “Lapis!”

This time, Lapis hears her. She jumps violently, her watery wings shooting out of her back on reflex as she turns to stare at Peridot. From the terrified expression on her face, it’s obvious to Peridot that Lapis is anticipating some sort of attack. But what attack? There’s no threat in sight. She’s safe here.

Slowly, Lapis relaxes. She breathes heavily, even though gems don’t need to breathe. She looks like she’s about to burst into tears.

“Peridot?” she whispers. “What are you doing here?”

“I could ask you the same question,” Peridot says.

“Wh-What do you mean?”

“Lapis, it’s the middle of the night, and you’re on the roof. That isn’t normal. Why are you up here?”

Lapis sighs shakily.

“Lapis?”

“I’m scared,” Lapis says, her voice so tiny Peridot can barely hear her. “And when I’m scared, I like to sit up here… so I don’t feel so trapped.”

“Scared?” Peridot repeats. She awkwardly sits down beside Lapis, hoping very much that she won’t fall off of the roof. “What do you have to be scared about?”

“Being trapped in a mirror with a cracked gem for thousands of years. Finally fleeing only to be captured and taken back to this planet as a hostage. Being fused under the ocean for months. That sort of thing,” Lapis mutters, staring blankly out at the sky again.

“But… Lapis, I don’t understand,” Peridot says, so confused. “Those things happened in the past. Why are they scaring you now?”

Lapis gives a hollow laugh that makes Peridot shiver. “You don’t understand, do you?”

“No, I really don’t.”

“Have you ever heard of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder?” Lapis says.

“No. what is it?”

“Steven told me about it. It’s a human illness where something bad happens to them and their brains won’t let them forget it, tormenting them with fear and the memories replaying themselves. Well, he thinks I have the same thing wrong with my gem. So now… I can’t forget the things that happened. And… and they make me scared after all of this time. which… which is why I’m up here, because I was feeling all claustrophobic about my mirror experiences.”

Peridot stares at her, her eyes wide. “I… I had no idea. I’m so sorry this is all happening to you.”

Lapis smiles weakly. “Thank you.”

And Lapis actually looks at her, and Peridot sees tears in her eyes.

“Don’t cry,” Peridot says. “Don’t cry.”

But Lapis sniffs and tears start to run down her face. “Sorry. I’m just… scared.”

“I know,” Peridot says, and she puts her arm around Lapis. “I just wish I could help.”

Lapis nods. “I know what you mean. I wish I could feel better too. But I’ve dealt with this for long enough to know there’s nothing I can really do to make myself feel better.”

Feeling like she’s about to cry herself, Peridot pulls Lapis into a hug. Lapis flinches, but then leans into the embrace.

When they eventually break the hug, Peridot says, “Hey, if you don’t want to go inside, we can put the TV on the truck and watch _Camp Pining_ Hearts there. That’s outside.”

Lapis smiles slightly. “Yeah, that’s a good idea. Thank you, Peridot.”

“It isn’t a problem, Lapis,” she says, echoing something she once heard Steven say. “That is what friends are for.”

And Peridot offers Lapis her hand, and Lapis takes it with a weak smile, and they head inside to get the TV and watch their favourite show together in the truck that sticks out of the side of the barn. And Peridot knows that, whilst she can’t solve Lapis’ problems, she can at least help her feel better by staying with her and offering support until she feels better.


	12. Mr Smiley/Mr Frowney

He can’t quite believe this. Quentin is back!

His old comedy partner. His… boyfriend from all those years ago. He’s back in Beach City.

“Are… are you sure?” he asks Steven, who still looks ridiculous in the zoltron costume that Harold made him wear.

Steven looks at him, trying to read the real expression behind his smile. “Yeah, I’m sure. He was here, talking to me. He looked so sad. And he talked about you.”

Harold breaks eye contact, his never ending smile starting to falter. Quentin was talking about him? After all this time? What did he say about him?

“So, where is he now?” Harold says, part of him needing to know the answer.

“He said he was gonna take the bus and leave,” Steven says.

Harold stares at him. He seems to be telling the truth.

So, Quentin is going to leave? After all of this time, is he going to miss his chance to see his old partner again? He needs to see him.

And so Harold stares at Steven, and then he turns and races down the boardwalk.

Vaguely aware that Steven is running after him, Harold runs through the town, heading for the bus stop. He needs to see Quentin before he leaves. Harold runs and runs, wishing he was fitter and his shoes were easier to run in. The bus stop is right on the other side of town. He just hopes he can get there in time.

“Mr Smiley?!” Steven calls from behind him, out of breath. But Harold ignores him, not knowing what to say.

Finally, he reaches the bus stop. He stops halfway down the road, staring at the bus shelter. And then he sees someone stood by the bus stop, wearing a long brown coat. His hair is long and straggly, and his face is lined and sad. It’s Quentin.

It’s Quentin!

But now he’s here… he doesn’t know what to say. It’s been so long since he last saw Quentin, and they didn’t part on good terms. Their act was failing, and so was their relationship. Quentin was so sad all of the time, even off of the stage. And they argued and… and Harold left and never went back.

And he moved to Beach City and started working at Funland, and even ended up running the place in a few years, but he wasn’t happy. His smile wasn’t genuine. He was missing something. He was missing Quentin.

And now… and now Quentin is right here, stood down the sidewalk from him. But he doesn’t know what to do.

“Mr Smiley?” Steven whispers.

Harold turns his head. Steven is stood beside him, looking up at him.

“Why aren’t you talking to him?”

Harold sighs. “Because I don’t know what to say.”

Steven smiles, but there is sadness in his eyes. “Just go and say hello. I’m sure the rest will come to you.”

He takes a deep breath and exhales slowly. “Okay, then. Here I go.”

And Harold walks down the sidewalk and approaches Quentin.

“Quentin?” he says with a degree of caution.

Quentin turns his head, and his drooping eyelids open slightly.

“Harold?” he says, like he can’t believe this is actually happening.

To be fair, Harold kind of feels like that too.

“What… what are you doing here?” Quentin asks.

“I could ask you the same question,” Harold says, and he laughs awkwardly.

And then Quentin gives the weakest smile. It’s so long since he’s seen him smile.

\---

Quentin decides to stay in Beach City, for a while at least. He walks with Harold on the way to his house, their arms linked together. He isn’t smiling again, but… somehow, he looks happier. Like he is more at peace than he has been in a long time.

At Harold’s house, they sit side by side on the couch, drinking coffee. Harold talks about Funland and Quentin listens, an intent expression on his tired face.

“You run that entire place?” Quentin says. Harold nods, smiling. “That’s very impressive.”

“Thanks,” Harold says. “So, how has your life been?”

Quentin looks sad again, his eyes almost closed as he slumps. “Sad, to be honest, just sad. I’ve done various jobs to get the money, you know, but nothing like our act together. And then I got diagnosed with depression.” He chuckles weakly, but it’s a hollow laugh. “Turns out that’s why I’m always so sad.”

Harold stares at him. “Depression?”

Quentin nods.

“I had no idea,” he says.

“Neither did I,” Quentin says. “Not for a long time. But it made a lot of sense.”

Harold looks at him, remembering all of the sadness and crying and times when he just stayed in bed all day, tired for no apparent reason. “Yeah, it does make sense.”

Quentin meets his eyes; they look at each other, and Harold remembers all the wonderful times they spent together.

“I missed you, Quentin,” he says.

Quentin sighs shakily. “I missed you too.”

And, as Quentin stares at him, Harold watches his eyes fill with tears. Quentin blinks, and tears start to dribble down his face.

Harold has seen Quentin cry many times, in a fake way as part of their act, and in a real way when he was so sad and neither of them knew why. But it still hurts just as much to see Quentin cry.

“Don’t cry,” he says, and he reaches out and carefully wipes the tears away.

Quentin smiles weakly and slumps against Harold. He wraps his arms around him, hugging Quentin in a tight embrace. Quentin sniffs and rests his face against his shoulder.

“I’m so glad I came back,” he whispers, his voice trembling as he sobs silently.

Harold smiles, blinking back his own tears. “So am I.”


	13. Greg Universe/Bill Dewey

As he sits next to Greg in the back of Greg’s van, Bill’s eyes focus on a photograph. It’s in an old frame; the picture looks about twenty years old. It shows Greg and a beautiful woman, smiling at the camera (Bill believes this type of photograph is called a selfie, if he’s to believe what Buck’s girlfriend Jenny told him). Greg has much more hair and is wearing a T-shirt that says Mr Universe, and the woman, who is huge, has endless pink hair in ringlets, and they are both grinning and look so happy.

“Like that photo, Bill?” Greg says.

Bill jumps, totally startled. He immediately starts sweating, and scrubs at his forehead with his favourite soft handkerchief awkwardly. “Um… uh… I didn’t mean to stare. I was just… uh…”

“Hey, hey, it’s okay,” Greg says, putting his arm around Bill.

He blushes; he may be nearing fifty, but Bill still gets painfully flustered around people he has feelings for. Bill wrings his hands together, risking a glance at Greg’s face. But Greg is just smiling.

“No, it’s fine. That’s just a photo of me and… Rose,” Greg says, and his smile disappears.

Bill looks at him, suddenly quite panicky. Has he upset Greg? His social skills leave a lot to be desired, you see, and he’s always having problems like that. “Did I do something wrong?”

Greg pulls him closer, leaning his forehead against Bill’s jaw. “Of course you didn’t. It’s just… thinking about Rose brings back… memories.”

Something occurs to him. “Ah, is that your son’s mother?”

Greg smiles weakly. “Yeah, that’s her. Except, we when Steven was born… we lost her.”

His expression barely changes, but a single tear runs down Greg’s cheek.

“Don’t get upset,” Bill says, reaching for a handkerchief (he’s got loads of them). He passes one to Greg, wishing he found it easier to comfort people. “I understand. Well, I don’t in the sense that the same thing didn’t happen to me, but I know what losing someone close to you can feel like and…” he trails off, realising he was babbling. “Just, please don’t cry.”

Greg sniffs and wipes his eyes with the handkerchief. “This is really soft.”

“I know,” Bill says, rather relieved to see that Greg is no longer crying. “I get them especially because they don’t aggravate my hypersensitivity.” Knowing Greg probably doesn’t care about that, he changes the subject. “I didn’t mean to bring up a sensitive topic.”

“Nah, it’s okay,” Greg says, putting his arm around Bill again. “It’s been fourteen years now. I’ve moved on… mostly.”

Bill wonders how he could have been in a relationship with (or dating, as Buck and the other youths like to say) Greg for five whole months now, and still not had a talk like this.

“What about you?” Greg asks. “You’re a single father. Did… did Buck ever have a mother?”

He stares at Greg. Why didn’t he realise this question was coming? Bill starts to sweat again, but properly this time, with sweat pouring off of him. He starts to chew on his lip, his hands trembling as he mops up all of his sweat.

“Bill?” Greg is staring at him. “Hey, is something wrong? You… you don’t have to talk about it if it’s gonna upset you.”

He isn’t upset, not really. More like… he’s scared. Yes, he’s scared to bring up the memories again.

“No, it’s fine,” he says eventually. “I want to tell you.”

Greg frowns, and it’s clear he doesn’t understand. “If you say so.”

Bill swallows hard, and then takes a deep breath. “I was married… once. I was married to Buck’s mother ten years ago. We divorced.”

He knows he’s getting close to an emotional overload. That must be why it’s getting harder to talk, making it hard to process sentences more than a few words long. Greg is staring at him, clearly willing Bill to stop acting weird. But… he hasn’t told anyone about this for nearly a decade. He wants to confide in Greg.

“She… she was so lovely at first. We fell in love. We had Buck and…” he smiles weakly. “Things were good. But then…”

Greg lets out a little gasp, clearly realising what Bill is about to say before he says it.

“She became abusive. She shouted at me. She took control… she took my bank card from me. I told her about my… my autism diagnosis. Then she started t-tormenting me. Laughing when I had meltdowns. Calling me re… retarded.”

Bill’s voice breaks. Greg puts his arms around him, hugging him tightly, but Bill keeps speaking. He’s twisting his handkerchief tighter and tighter between trembling fingers.

“One… one night she hit me. I got a concussion. She slapped me whenever I fidgeted. But… but I could deal with all of that. Until… until she started shouting at Buck. I told her to stop. She hit me. She cut my forehead open. Blood everywhere. Buck started crying and called 911…”

Bill trails off. His handkerchief is in two pieces. His vision is blurred with tears.

“The police came. Arrested her. She… she got two years in prison. And when… when she got out… I got a rest-restraining order. She can’t come within… ten miles of Beach City. Then I divorced her. I haven’t seen her since.”

He stops speaking. He blinks and tears spill down his face. Greg just stares at him, such horror on his face.

“Bill… I had no idea,” he says.

“Why would you?” Bill says, shrugging awkwardly. “Only me and Buck know. Well, until now.”

“I’m so sorry,” Greg whispers.

More tears run down Bill’s face. “Why? It has nothing to do with you.”

“No, I mean, I’m so sorry that this happened,” he says.

Greg hugs him again, rubbing Bill’s back. He leans against Greg, tears soaking into Greg’s T-shirt. But Greg doesn’t complain.

“I’m a mess, aren’t I?” Bill whispers.

“Yeah, a bit,” Greg says, and he chuckles weakly. “But so am I. We can be a mess together.”

Bill smiles, despite his racing heart and the tears still dribbling down his face. “Yes, I suppose we can.”


	14. Pearl/Mystery Girl

It’s a weird experience dating an alien. To be honest, that’s not something I ever thought I’d say. I didn’t know Pearl was an alien when I met her, but the phone call we had after I gave her my number told me something was a bit… well… alien about her. She kept rambling on about how ‘you humans’ do things so differently, all the while I could hear other people laughing and trying to distract her. But she was charming and so cute when she sounded all embarrassed, and I was thrilled when she asked me if I wanted to go on a date.

So we did. We met at the pizza place in Beach City, and she was followed into the restaurant by the boy and purple woman who she was with the first time I saw her. At least, until she glared at them and they scuttled off, mumbling things like, “Hope you have fun, Pearl.”

Pearl greeted me with an awkward handshake, and I grinned and hugged her instead. She didn’t eat anything for the entire meal, but I didn’t question it. Maybe she just wasn’t hungry. Maybe this was just further proof that she wasn’t human. Either way, I didn’t really care. I just enjoyed spending the time with her.

When the meal was over, Pearl’s cheeks blushed blue as she said, “Um… would… would you like to… come back to my house?”

It was my turn to blush. I smiled and reached for her hand. “I would love to.”

She smiled.

We took my moped back to Pearl’s house, Pearl clinging to my waist as I drove us through the small town. When we reached the beach, I realised I couldn’t drive on that, so we walked the rest of the way. Pearl reached for my hand and I gave hers a squeeze.

She walked us across the beach, right around until I saw the most amazing stone figure of a woman with many arms set into the side of the cliff. And below it, sticking out of the cliff, a small wooden house. It was stunning, completely unlike anything I’d never seen before.

“This is amazing,” I said.

Pearl smiled. “Well, wait until you see the inside.”

We walked up the grassy slope and onto the decking outside the house. Pearl opened the door and led us into the house. I gasped, staring around me. It looked like a normal house at first, but there was this huge platform in the middle of the floor, and a mysterious door that must have led right inside the cliff. Just what was this place?

No one else was here. I looked at Pearl. “Hey, where’re your friends?”

“They… uh… went out,” she said. “Well, I told them to. I didn’t want them to ruin this like they nearly ruined the phone call we had. I’m sorry if you heard Steven and Amethyst being silly.”

I smiled. “No, it’s cool. It’ll be nice to have some time alone.”

Pearl blushed again. “Um, would you like to sit down?”

She gestured to the couch.

“Sure,” I said, and I sat down.

Pearl sat beside her, clasping her hands together. I looked at her and she ducked her head. “Um… can I tell you something?”

Her tone was so awkward. She obviously wanted to say something important. “Go ahead.”

Pearl stared at the floor. And then she suddenly blurted out, “I think I love you.”

And then she groaned, covering her face with her hands. It was my turn to stare at her, my eyes widening. Did she really just say that?

“I… I…” Pearl stuttered, not looking at me. “I’m sorry. I don’t want to make things awkward. I just…”

Her eyes filled with tears and they began to dribble down her face. As my heart felt like it was going to break, I wrapped my arms around her, pulling her into a hug.

“Don’t cry,” I said. “Please don’t cry.”

Pearl sniffed. “Sorry.”

“Don’t be sorry either. It’s okay.”

I put my hands on her shoulders, smiling. “Pearl, I think I love you too.”

And Pearl grinned and started crying even harder, and hugged me tightly, and I knew we were going to have a wonderful relationship.


	15. Steven & Crystal Gems

There’s something wrong. He doesn’t know this place. Where is he?

Steven turns around on the spot, staring at his surroundings. He’s stood in a dimly lit room, the only light coming from a grimy window. The floor is freezing beneath his bare feet. The air is cold and dusty, irritating Steven’s lungs whenever he inhales. And it is silent, so silent that all Steven can hear is his own breathes and his increasingly rapid heartbeat drumming in his ears.

But he doesn’t recognise this room. He rushes over to the grime crusted window and stares outside; through the darkness, he sees trees and other buildings and streetlamps glowing in the distance. He doesn’t recognise the view either. What is going on? He doesn’t understand.

And then Steven hears footsteps from somewhere outside this room, hard soled shoes echoing on concrete steps. Someone is walking towards him. His heart racing, Steven wraps his arms around himself as the footsteps get louder, turning towards the door. As creepy as their footsteps sound, maybe this person can help explain what’s going on.

A key rattles in the lock, the doorknob turns, and the door swings open. He gasps. It’s a gem.

They’re huge, even bigger than Jasper, and glare down at Steven as their gem seems to sparkle on their forearm. Who are they? He’s never seen them before.

They smile and walk towards him. Steven steps backwards.

“Wh-Who are you?” he asks.

But they just laugh. And then they pull a sword from their gem and they move to lunge it at him and—

And Steven awakes with a jolt, his heart beating so fast he feels like it might burst from his chest. Tears are trickling from the corners of his eyes, dribbling into his ears. He lies on his back and stares up at the ceiling, certain that he is safe, in his room. And that he was just dreaming.

“Steven, are you crying?”

He jumps and looks to the foot of his bed. Pearl is stood there, staring at him with one of those nervous frowns she’s so good at.

“Pearl? What’re you doing here?”

“Well, I just came to check on you,” she says, and Steven knows she was going to try to watch him sleeping again. “And I saw you looking very stressed and moving around a lot. Were you having a nightmare?

Steven nods. “Yeah, I did. Um… Pearl? Can I have a hug?”

Pearl smiles sadly. “Oh, Steven. Of course you can.”

And she sits down on the edge of his bed and gives him a hug. Steven sighs shakily, still freaked out from his dream, and leans against her. More tears run down his face, and Pearl pats his back.

After a while, Steven’s tears dry up. He wipes his eyes and sniffs.

“I dunno if I want to go back to sleep right away,” Steven says, wondering if he even can sleep now.

“That isn’t a problem. You can watch the television for a while.”

Still hugging Pearl, Steven tilts his head up so he can look up at her face. “Thanks. But… can you stay with me?”

“Of course I can.”

And Pearl smiles and snaps into action. As Steven sits up in bed and watches her, Pearl switches on the light, gets Steven a glass of water and fetches Garnet and Amethyst. The other two gems come straight over to him when they see Steven, Amethyst hugging him and Garnet ruffling his hair.

“Been having bad dreams, little man?” Amethyst says.

“Yeah,” Steven mumbles.

“Well, I hope we can be suitable companions until you feel better,” Garnet says, giving him one of her rare, small smiles.

Amethyst goes and gets them a selection of snacks from the kitchen, Garnet selects Steven’s favourite movie and puts it into the DVD player, and the three gems climb into bed with Steven, Garnet and Pearl either side of him, and Amethyst laying across the bottom of the bed. And then Steven eats some popcorn and plays the movie.

Surrounded by the gems and watching his favourite movie, Steven feels like he’s finally calming down. When he finally falls asleep, he’s cuddled up with them all, sunlight beginning to stream through the window.


End file.
